Before leaving, Obama had asked Trump to preserve rule of law in letter
Barack Obama warned Donald Trump to uphold the rule of law and not undermine the “international order” in a newly revealed letter from the 44th US president to his successor. The former president gave Trump three key pieces of advice in a letter he left in the Oval Office when he departed the White House. The letter was published on Sunday by CNN .
“We’ve both been blessed, in different ways, with great good fortune,” Obama told his successor. “Not everyone is so lucky. It’s up to us to do everything we can [to] build more ladders of success for every child and family that’s willing to work hard.”
Turning to international relations, Obama told Trump, who had embraced isolationism throughout his campaign: “American leadership in this world really is indispensable.”
He added: “It’s up to us, through action and example, to sustain the international order that’s expanded steadily since the end of the Cold War, and upon which our own wealth and safety depend.”
Thirdly, Obama urged his successor to protect “those democratic institutions and traditions – like rule of law, separation of powers, equal protection and civil liberties – that our forebears fought and bled for”.
“Regardless of the push and pull of daily politics, it’s up to us to leave those instruments of our democracy at least as strong as we found them,” Obama wrote in the letter.
In January, Trump called the letter “beautiful” and said he would cherish it, adding: “We won’t even tell the press what’s in that letter.”